WHY IN THE NEWS?

• O.M. Nambiar, the man who transformed a village girl P.T. Usha into Asia’s Golden Girl, passed away. One of India’s most famous coaches, Nambiar spotted Usha at a very young age in 1976 and soon began coaching her at the Kannur Sports Division.
• Under his guidance, Usha began winning medals at the Asian level but his best move was making the sprinter switch to the 400m hurdles before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) launched (after pilot test) an AI-enabled chatbot, named Urja to provide its customers with a platform for seamless self-service experience and faster resolution of queries/issues.
• URJA is the first such chatbot in the oil and gas industry in India. URJA has been launched under the Project Anubhav of BPCL and it currently supports 13 languages.
• With the objective of making BPCL’s customer interface comprehensive and integrated digitally, Urja, the chatbot is now available on the company website for any queries for both B2B & B2C.
• Under Project Anubhav, Urja represents an integrated communication platform that connects all BPCL communication to any channel, unifying all customer touchpoints with a single and cohesive voice.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• • Television monitoring agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) has announced the appointment of Nakul Chopra as its chief executive officer (CEO) effective 25 August 2021.
  • Former CEO Sunil Lulla has resigned to pursue his ambition as an entrepreneur. This announcement comes as Sunil Lulla has decided to resign from the position of CEO to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.

• Chopra had joined the BARC India Board in 2016 and had been elected as the Chairman during 2018-19. In January 2020, he was appointed as a member of BARC’s Oversight Committee. The media and advertising industry veteran had earlier served as the CEO, India and South Asia of Publicis Worldwide for over a decade.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The World Bank has launched a new ‘Cybersecurity Multi-Donor Trust Fund’, to better roll out cybersecurity development agenda in a systematic manner. The new fund has been developed as an associated trust fund under the broader Digital Development Partnership (DDP) umbrella program.
• World Bank has partnered with four countries, namely Estonia, Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands, to launch the fund.
• The main aim of this new fund is to enhance cyber and digital security capability and capacity in World Bank member countries, with the development of global knowledge, country assessments, technical assistance, capacity building and training, along with necessary investments in infrastructure and technology

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) carried out a successful ground run and low speed taxi trials of a commercial aircraft “Hindustan-228” (Do-228).

About Hindustan-228 (Do-228):

• The 19-seater Do-228 is the first major attempt in India to develop a small civil transport aircraft after the 14-seater Saras Aircraft development program at the National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL) was shelved in 2009 on account of multiple problems in its development.
  • However, the NAL has been pitching SARAS Mk-2 (19-seater aircraft) for the government’s UDAN, since it has the capacity to operate in “ill-equipped”, “semi-prepared” and “unpaved airstrips”.
• It is built on the existing frame of the German Dornier 228 defence transport aircraft used by the defence forces.
• Two civil Do-228 produced by HAL for launch under UDAN scheme have a maximum take-off weight of 6200 kgs.
• It is equipped with a digital cockpit which will ensure more accurate readings, precise information and required data displays with feedback loops and capability for self-check to alert pilots in emergencies.
• It is conceived to be a multirole utility aircraft capable of being used for VIP transport, passenger transport, air ambulance, flight inspection roles, cloud seeding, and recreational activities like para jumping, aerial surveillance, photography, remote sensing and cargo transport.
• With a maximum cruise speed of 428 kmph and a range of 700 kmph the aircraft is capable of night flying.
• HAL is looking forward to exporting the aircraft as well to countries like Nepal.

UDAN Scheme:

• Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) was launched as a regional connectivity scheme under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016. It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional Aviation market.
  • Small civilian aircrafts are considered to be an essential element of the UDAN.
• The objective of the scheme is to create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
• The scheme envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme is operational for a period of 10 years.
  • Under-served airports are those which do not have more than one flight a day, while unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
• Financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and under-served airports, and keep airfares affordable.
• About 325 routes and 56 airports including 5 heliports and 2 water aerodromes have been operationalised under the scheme.
• On the commencement of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (India@75)’, the Ministry of Civil Aviation proposed about 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process.
  • The UDAN 4.1 focuses on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Some new routes have been proposed under the Sagarmala Seaplane services.
    • Sagarmala Seaplane Services is an ambitious project under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways with potential airline operators.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, the Ministry of Finance has launched ‘Ubharte Sitaare’ Alternative Investment Fund to facilitate debt and equity funding to export-oriented MSMEs (Micro Small and medium Enterprises).

About:

• Under the scheme, an identified company is supported even if it is currently underperforming or may be unable to tap its latent potential to grow.
• The scheme diagnoses such challenges and provides support through a mix of structured support covering equity, debt and technical assistance. It will also have a Greenshoe Option of Rs 250 crore.
  • A greenshoe option is an over-allotment option, which is a term that is commonly used to describe a special arrangement in a share offering for example an IPO (Initial Public Offering) that will enable the investment bank to support the share price after the offering without putting their own capital at risk.
• The fund has been set up jointly by Exim Bank and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) which will invest in the fund by way of equity and equity-like products in export-oriented units, in both manufacturing and services sectors.

Criteria for Selecting Companies:

Unique value:

• Companies will be selected for support based on their unique value proposition in technology, products or processes that match global requirements;

Financial Strength:

• Fundamentally strong companies with acceptable financials, and outward orientation; small and mid-sized companies with ability to penetrate global markets, with an annual turnover of up to approx. Rs 500 crore.

Business Model:

• Companies with a good business model, strong management capabilities, and focus on product quality.

Support:

• Eligible companies can be supported by both financial and advisory services by way of equity/equity-like instruments, term loans for modernisation, technology or capacity upgradation; and technical assistance for product adaptation, market development activities and viability studies.

Objectives:

• To enhance India’s competitiveness in select sectors through finance and extensive handholding support.
• Identify and nurture companies having differentiated technology, products or processes, and enhance their export business; assist units with export potential, which are unable to scale up their operations for want of finance.
• Identify and mitigate challenges faced by successful companies which hinder their exports.
• Assist existing exporters in widening their basket of products and target new markets through a strategic and structured export market development initiative.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The government launched a new geospatial planning portal called ‘Yuktdhara’ under Bhuvan. It was launched by Giriraj Singh, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

About Yuktdhara

• This new portal will help in facilitating new MGNREGA assets with the help of remote sensing as well as geographic information system-based data.
• Portal will also serve as a repository of geotags that have been created under several national rural development programmes such as MGNREGA, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Per Drop More Crop etc along with field photographs.
• It integrates several thematic layers and multi-temporal high resolution earth observation data with the analysis tools. Using these tools, planners will be able to analyse previous assets under schemes and would facilitate in identifying new works using online tools.
• Yuktdhara-based plans would be prepared by grassroot functionaries. Plans would later be verified by appropriate authorities for the purpose of relevance and resource allocation.

How this portal was named?

The name Yuktdhara is very apt. Word ‘Yukt’ has been derived from Yojanam, the planning while ‘Dhara’ indicates the flow.

Who planned for this portal?

Launch of the portal is culmination of joint efforts of ISRO and Ministry of Rural development towards realising the requirement of G2G service for rural planning in order to support the decentralized decision making.

Geoportal Bhuvan

Geoportal Bhuvan is a rich information base of ISRO. It provides satellite images and analytical capabilities. It has thus become a de-facto geospatial platform for several developmental planning activities across India

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Reserve Bank of India had appointed committee headed by N. S. Vishwanathan to make suggestions on structure for the urban cooperative banks (UCBs)

About:

• Panel was set up to suggest structure on the basis of deposits, prescribed different capital adequacy as well as regulatory norms for them with respect to their sizes.
• RBI had constituted the Expert Committee on Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks under the chairmanship of N S Vishwanathan in February 2021

Recommendations by panel

• As per committee, UCBs can be split into four categories

1. Tier-1- with deposits up to Rs 100 crore;
2. Tier-2 with deposits between Rs 100-Rs 1000 crore,
3. Tier-3 with deposits between Rs 1000 crore to Rs 10000 and
4. Tier-4 with deposits more than Rs 10000 crore.

• It suggests that, minimum Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) for these tiers can vary between 9 per cent to 15 per cent.
• While, for Tier-4 UCBs Basel III prescribed norms can be followed.
• It suggests separate ceilings for loan against gold ornaments, home loans and unsecured loans for different categories of UCBs.
• Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) should follow a twin-indicator approach. It can consider only asset quality and capital measured through NNPA and CRAR, rather than going with triple indicators approach at present.

Consolidation of UCBs

Panel reports on consolidation of UCBs highlights that, RBI should be largely neutral to voluntary consolidation except where supervisory action is required. RBI should use the route of mandatory merger in to resolve UCBs that are not meeting with prudential requirements. It also suggests that, under Banking Regulation (BR) Act, RBI can come up with the scheme of compulsory amalgamation or reconstruction of UCBs.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiled a four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme.

About NMP scheme

• Scheme was launched with a Rs 6 lakh crore unlock value in brownfield projects.
• It also engages the private sector. They will have the rights but not the ownership in projects.
• Scheme will be using the funds for infrastructure creation across India.
• Under the scheme, roads, railways and power sector assets would comprise of more than 66 per cent of the total estimated value of the assets to be monetised.
• Rest of the estimated value will come from sector like mining, telecom, ports, aviation, natural gas, warehouses & stadiums and petroleum product pipelines.
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) are some of structures that will be used to monetise assets in roads and power sectors.

Significance of the monetisation

According to Finance Minister, monetisation will help in creating further value for infrastructure creation India and exploring innovative ways of private participation without transferring the government ownership.

Key challenges of the scheme

Major key challenges in the NMP roadmap include:

1. Lack of identifiable revenue streams across various assets,
2. Level of capacity utilisation across gas and petroleum pipeline networks,
3. Dispute resolution mechanism,
4. Regulated tariffs in power sector assets, and
5. Low interest among investors for national highways below four lanes.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Faridabad Smart City Limited has roped in an unlikely collaborator to help promote its initiatives on social media – comic hero Chacha Chaudhary. The social media campaign’s objective will be to promote the steps taken by the agency.
• The initiative will involve excerpts of Talking Comics. Each social media post will depict Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu, his loyal sidekick, guiding and teaching people on effectively using the infrastructure put in place.
• The objective of the social media campaign would be to promote the steps the agency had taken, including the installation of CCTVs for surveillance, traffic rules, road safety, and waste management.